LOST! The me version.

This is me lost in San Jose, Costa Rica. Do I look tense? My wife decided she needed to become a photojournalist, as we tried to find our way after loosing our guides who mysteriously turned left and disappeared. The kids were in the back, the sky was getting dark, it was rush hour, I hadn't spoken spanish in 10 years and we had no map, or idea where we were going. Tense, heck ya!

In retrospect things went very well. We eventually got on the road we were supposed to be on and hooked up several hours later with the car we were to follow. The in between time was spent relying on strangers. I realize that some directions are good and some are bad, but if a Costa Rican says the road to Cartago is straight ahead....it doesn't mean the road you are on will take you directly to Cartago. It actually means, turn left at the soccer stadium, left at the church and when it dead ends-turn left.

What was more interesting than the situation was what it taught me.I realize that I have a fear of the unknown. My immediate reaction to Costa Rica was I didn't like it. I was likely to be lost, robbed, it was a dirty, confusing place etc. Costa Rica has since become best and safest Latin American experience-WHAT a country! The bottom line was I hated being lost. It taught me that I had assumed that people would not be helpful, that I would not be able to communicate, that it was terrible to be out of control. In reality, we found our friends because a very kind guy with is daughter stopped and lent us his cell phone to make a call to our friends. Repeatedly people gave us directions, suffered through our broken spanish and helped. Even Burger King let us call on their phone.

Now, I pride myself on being someone who is willing to take risks, who has traveled extensively and is able to converse in spanish. Realizing these fears was a big shock! Traveling with my family I realized I don't always like taking risks, that I do isolate myself from the help of strangers. I am so glad I got lost! It is amazing that when we don't have these experiences how routine and controlled our life gets. It leads us to a false sense of our ability, our life direction, our safety. Getting lost allows us to see that God will look after us any time any where. No wonder pilgrimage was meant to be a spiritual practice, that gave followers of Jesus a consistent glimpse of his constant leading. Those people that stopped helped me not only get to my destination, but helped me to see God leads me, and looks after me. What a great reminder!

HE LEADETH ME by Joseph Gilmore

He leadeth me, O blessed thought!

O words with heav’nly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where’er I be
Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.
Refrain
He leadeth me, He leadeth me,
By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful follower I would be,
For by His hand He leadeth me.

Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom,
Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom,
By waters still, over troubled sea,
Still ’tis His hand that leadeth me.
Refrain

Lord, I would place my hand in Thine,
Nor ever murmur nor repine;
Content, whatever lot I see,
Since ’tis my God that leadeth me.
Refrain

And when my task on earth is done,
When by Thy grace the vict’ry’s won,
E’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,
Since God through Jordan leadeth me.
Refrain

Life at the Margins

There are very few churches I could work at for one simple reason....I like beer. I love to try new beers, old beers, and very old beers- especially Irish. I don't really drink cheap beers. I have drunk beer from the fount of all beers at St. James' Gate Dublin, at the factory of Guiness.

This might seem odd to you if you come from a church in which drinking is permissable. My grandparents who were members of the temperance movement until the day they died would roll in their graves with my beer loving confession. Faith and alcohol were diametrically opposed to them. My father, who is a well respected pastor theologically asserts drinking is not forbidden by scripture, is also astounded at my enthusiastic response to the drink that imperils so many- because he doesn't prefer it and it was never part of his social culture. Growing up in this environment meant I always was suspect of pubs, of alcohol and of people who enjoyed them. It was a great baptist friend and man of God who eventually saved me from my safe life.

See here is the thing......Having a beer is a the way I thank people for helping me, pubs provide a place for my neighbours to meet me, it is an excuse to go to the place people hang out. Beer and coffee are the universal communicators of hospitality. 'Come for coffee! We'll hang out.' It is part of the social reality of our culture. This means to not engage in it potentially alienates me from my neighbours, community and culture.

I really don't care what the issue is. A love of sports cars, dancing, music- these are part of life and need to be enjoyed. Imagine a life and a faith that is lived away from things that people find fun, enjoyable. Life would be pretty dull without chocolate, sailing, beautiful art, expensive watches etc. In fact, besides having a pickle up their backside, we would say people who avoided pleasure were dull, out of touch. Heaven forbid that this ever be the world's impression of the church. This is life in the middle. It is safe it is clean. This is the goal of many youth groups. Keep kids from trouble, provides an alternative and positive but safe example from the real world.

The reason I advocate life at the margins, and encourage people to drink and smoke, dance and have a pleasure filled life is this.....That by doing this you will set an example of life. Life free of addictions, a life with safe margins, but a life that also demonstrates your freedom in Christ. It also is a life that accurately depicts my theology. Theology means that I believe God says something I model. Is it dangerous-no it's freedom. Life at the margins is good for my soul. By living there I create common ground with people who need to discover authentic people of faith. Jesus was a smart partier. Living life in the middle may actually be teaching people to avoid their humanity, and enforce the ghetto subculture of people who are disconnected from their community, their mission and their own lives.

More Churches, Different Churches

Ask someone why they go to their church and every time you would get a different answer. I love the worship, the preaching, the programs. Regardless of how great we view our churches, and how perfect they are for our personal spiritual growth, if we stepped back and took an objective look, we would have to admit, firstly that our church isn't perfect and that it won't work for everyone. In fact for as many reasons as we like our church there are an equal number of people who don't.

"Some people prefer to go to churches that preach heresy, or the

theology of the month..."

In being part of a vineyard church I recognize that our worship just really doesn't connect with a everyone. It is too loud, too repetative etc.. , but i love it (apart from being a little too country). At the same time vineyard worship has led a revolution in the way churches universally understand and express worship. And brought countless people to the church who loved the refreshing sound of rock music. Does this make vineyard worship critics insane? Not at all! Everyone has their preferences. Some people prefer to go to churches that preach heresy or the latest theology of the month, or places where the preaching is so boring-not me but others love it. I say this to highlight the fact that most people go to churches not because of quality, not because of calling, or high religious ideologies, but because of habit and preference. Whether we like to admit it or not the number of people in our churches bent on, changing, improving, making things more inclusive, complaining about 'the why don't we....'s?', are evidence we don't fit everybody.

One approach pastors take is to ignore unpopular comments like, 'why isn't your church.....' or 'your church doesn't.....'. They defend their style and programs by saying that it is about God and not your personal preference- often this is taken as a defence of irrelevance. Church goers also gloss over the churches rough edges by pumping up their churches good points, making excuses for their shortcomings.

" I think the heart of Paul's words were about reaching everyone,

not about bringing everyone in."

I wonder though if we need to admit something different. Paul takes about becoming all things to all people in order to reach people. Perhaps our emphasis on church improvement is not the answer at all. Perhaps rather we need to create more churches, and different churches so that everyone can have a place to worship that expresses their heart, their motivations, their needs. What we don't need are places that make everyone comfortable, but churches that communicate differently- we need more rave churches, churches for bikers, churches that speak different languages. We need churches for every nationality, every neighbourhood. The bane of the church today may be its commitment to all people, and it's sacrifice of creating worship communities that are unique, and missional to peculiar communities. I think the heart of Paul's words were about reaching everyone, not about bringing everyone in.

In having several church planters as close friends I realize that despite their best efforts the people they think would be great for their church won't come. But in every case I know of people that come to their churches who you would never expect. Why? God only knows. I recently switched to a church not far from my old church. My new church in many ways has tons going for it that the other didn't yet, not one of the people from my old church followed me. This highlights to me that what we need is not fewer, bigger, or better churches what we need is more churches and different churches that we might be able to help everyone understand who God is, to encourage them to worship and to grow in their relationship with God. Perhaps the next time I as a pastor here someone complain about a church need to here the words as an opportunity to help form a new community and not as criticism. Now is a great time to plant a church.